The invention relates to a method of folding an airbag as well as to an airbag consisting of flat fabric.
In order to accommodate airbags in the vehicle behind an interior trim in a space-saving manner, they are folded prior to being mounted in the vehicle. When the airbag is activated, the gas flows into the airbag so that the latter automatically deploys due to the internal pressure. In these airbags the inflation behavior substantially depends on how the airbag is folded. It is a preferred way of folding the airbag to roll up the airbag starting from a border toward an inflating section through which the gas may flow into the airbag.
However it turned out to be a drawback of this method that such rolled-up airbag has a round cross-sectional shape so that a casing having an appropriate mounting depth is required. Depending on the mounting conditions it is desired, however, to obtain a flat airbag package which can be positioned also in areas having small mounting depth between the car body and the interior trim. A mere folding-up of the airbag into the desired shape requires additional fixing of the folded airbag, however, so as to prevent the folded airbag package from deploying or from losing its shape already during assembly, thus impeding insertion into a casing.